The Meiji Restoration

Samurai of the Satsuma Clan, fighting for the Imperial side in the Boshin War (circa 1868). Photo by Felice Beato

Keynote presentations for your notes

You are responsible for finding the time to read the Keynotes below. The material revealed in them is your responsibility.

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Videos to Be Viewed
The Meiji Revolution (Part 1) from Pacific Century (Do note that the sound does not sync with the visual scenes in nearly all the segments below)
Be sure to take notes as you watch the videos below. You could may instead read your text, but I believe the films are just as informative and more interesting (pp. 117 to 130 "The Meiji Restoration" of Pacific Century)


The Meiji Revolution (Part 2) from Pacific Century


The Meiji Revolution (Part 3) from Pacific Century

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"Revere the emperor, expel the barbarians" (Assignment)

From the films above you should have gathered that Japan, during the period of the Meiji Restoration, needed to modernize in a very rapid way. To accomplish they resorted to the use of slogans. For example, the one above was a xenophobic response to the presence of foreigners in Japan. More detail follows in this link, Modernization - Brain storm & Slogans

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The Sino-Japanese War (Mini-lesson)

Follow the instructions for this lesson by participating in the activities listed below.

1. Read Background to the Baseball in Japan
2. Read The First Sino-Japanese War
3. View the wood block prints of the Sino-Japanese War
   1. How are the Chinese soldiers portrayed in these prints? The Japanese soldiers?
   2. Look at the weapons used by each side, are they different? How? Does this tell us anything about Japanese technological advancement?
4. Read the Ichiko's Baseball Club Rouser
   1. Why do sports often become symbolic battlegrounds between nations?
   2. Is imperialism/colonialism simply about militarily and politically controlling another nation, or is it also about proving one’s self-perceived cultural superiority over another?

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The Russo-Japanese War (Mini-lesson)

1. Background to the Russo-Japanese War
2. View the wood block prints of the Russo-Japanese War
3. View some of these images (at least 10) from TopFoto Gallery - Russo-Japanese War
4. View all of the images (primarily photos) for History in Pictures - Russo-Japanese War
5. View the films (Thomas Edison's work) of the war (staged) on this website: Meeting of Frontiers
6. Provide answers to the following questions after completing the viewings above. Be certain to have viewed all of the work above. As you do, note what you see, and image how it may have impacted on a person from that era in Japan (and Russia):
   1. Do artistic renditions or photographs depict the heroics of war better?
   2. Do artistic renditions or photographs depict the horrors of war better? (Consider all photographs of war that you have seen, both historical and contemporary)
   3. How does the medium affect the message? Can we say that, "[T]he medium is the message"?
   4. Why is 1905 such a turning point in Japanese and World history? How might history have been different had Japan lost the Russo-Japanese War?

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Japan's Annexation of Korea (required)

Our focus is to seek an answer to this question: Was Japanese annexation of Korea inevitable?
Clearly there are two areas where we must focus:

1. Forces in Japan that sought the annexation of Korea and other regions into the Japanese Empire.
2. Conditions in Korea which allowed for its annexation.

As you work through the readings for this, pp. 135-140 of Pacific Century, consider both Questions 1 and 2 above.
Additional Readings
Excerpt from the Independent Tongnip sinmun and The Old People and the New Government Kamatsu Midori

Mouse over the picture below of the Prince Regent of Korea, Taewon Gun. You will be taken to our sub-topic, Korea During the Era of Imperialism.

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